Hosea

Hosea 1 - Hosea - I think it's interesting that when it comes to breaking the covenant of marriage, adultery is cited as the only legitimate reason. Yet in the book of Hosea, God says Israel has committed the vilest of adultery and then has Hosea marry a prostitute to illustrate the relationship between God and Israel. "Who is she?" The first question asked when adultery has been revealed. Somehow such great betrayal is made even worse when it is found out that she is a prostitute. Here God is faced with such betrayal. Israel has departed from the Lord in favor of another. He is free to walk away, he can wash his hands of the whole thing, but… He doesn't. In an act of great mercy, he will use the only thing that will get their attention, judgment, to bring them back to the place where they will be called sons of the living God. What will it take to get our attention?

Hosea 2 - "She went after her lovers, but Me she has forgot." If avoiding golden calves and statues of Buddha were the only idols in our lives to look out for, so many of us could give ourselves a good hardy pat on the back for a job well done. But I fear God would have the same words for us as He had for Israel, "Let her remove that adulterous look from her face..." Ya know that look that smiles and says "Oh, sorry. I had to work late." While in your heart you know you have been ignoring and betraying the one that loves you. The idols of today may not look like the idols of Israel's time but they are just as lethal. Success, career, hope in politicians, focus on self, materialism, love of nature and trust in science the list goes on and on, can all be summed up as "lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16) As was the case with Israel, God continues to bless us even when our relationships are tainted with idolatry. He calls to us "Remove the adulterous look from your face and the unfaithfulness in your heart! Otherwise...". Otherwise in His mind blowing mercy He will not write us off but rather block our path with thornbushes, bringing us to a place of isolation and utter dependence on Him by stripping us of everything. Why?? Because He is mean and cruel? Certainly not! But because It is THEN that we will realize we are and always will be better off with Him.

At the end of chapter 2 of Hosea God zooms out and takes a 30,000ft view of what He is about to do with Israel. She has forgotten Him, betrayed Him with another but He has not forgotten her. "Therefore He will allure her into the wilderness and speak comfort to her..." God will turn this giant mess we've have made into a Door of hope! A door of restoration! Where you will no longer serve a god out of fear but you will call The Living God your husband. Because you see God doesn't want our fear based obedience He wants our love! A deep intimate love relationship! So He does what needs to be done to bring us to the place where we will finally realize that we are better off with Him and say "You are my God!"

Hosea 3 - In the opening of Hosea Chapter 3 God instructs Hosea to show love to his wife again, even though she is currently prostituting herself. He goes further to say "love her as the Lord loves". This chapter is only five verses long but I have pages of thoughts I could share. But the one thing I keep coming back to is the raisin cakes, it says "they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." This I had to think about for a while. Turns out these raisin cakes would have been offered to these false gods. I can almost picture the cream cheese frosting melted on top and running down the sides (think Cinnabon), the soft dough melting on your tongue with just a hint of freshly ground cinnamon. Tempting I know, but think about the stomachache you have afterwards! They had forgotten about the living God who wanted to have a deep and intimate relationship with them; a love relationship, which by the way, was celebrated with seven feasts! FEASTS, people! Not just dessert! And it got me to thinking what blessings of God am I giving up in exchange for a few raisin cakes? Eve gave up Eden... Gratifying one's self can seem great at the time but in the end it leaves you with nothing more than tighter jeans and a stomachache. Let's not make the same mistake and miss out on the blessings of God or even eternity with Jesus for the temporary pleasure of a few raisin cakes. "Come, taste and see that the Lord is good!"

Hosea 4 - The charges against Israel. No truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God, cursing, lying, murder, stealing, violent crime, no restraint, rejecting the knowledge of God, ignoring the word of God, exchanged Glory for something disgraceful, unfaithful to God, stubborn... I could go on. But here's the deal, verse 5 says "My people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge." We are the most educated generation of people with access to volumes of information 24 hours a day on a device that most of us carry with us at all times. And yet it is our lack of knowledge that will destroy us. Knowing who God is, is not enough! You need to KNOW God. Knowing God comes from the study of the Bible. Yes, you personally have study the Bible for yourself so you will will not be lead astray. The best way to recognize a lie is to know the truth! And the best way to know the Truth is to study the Bible! God said the Israelites were like stubborn heifers. Here's a tip: Don't be a cow! Allow the Lord the shepherd you in the beautiful meadow of His Word. Knowing God through the study of His Word with shape your conduct, knowing God and the accepting his gift of salvation through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ will save your life.


Hosea 5 -Truth. It's hard to find anymore. We have become a culture where everyone can write their own truth. We focus on how we feel. Emotions and feelings have become the measuring stick of each man's personal truth. You know what? That is a bunch of poppycock! A toddler might feel like reaching out and touching that pretty, red and glowing circle on top of the stove but the truth is he is going to get burned. Our feelings and emotions are like ships tossed by the sea and the last thing we need is someone, who will just nod their head in political correctness while we drift further and further from the shore. What we need is a healthy dose of truth! "Don't touch that! You'll burn yourself!" Let's not fool ourselves, we are not more enlightened when in our sin depraved hearts we decide to move God's boundaries of right and wrong. We will get burned. And our ongoing pursuit of self gratification will bring us to the point where our deeds will quite literally keep us from returning to God and what is right. And here's the terrifying part, some in their sin will actually continue to say "I seek the Lord." But here is the truth, "you will not find him." Because you're not really looking for him and because he has "withdrawn himself from you." Don't let it be so!! Your heart is the most deceitful thing, do not trust it! Trust in the truth! "He is the rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are Just, a God of truth and without injustice, righteous and upright is He." The Lord in his mercy will allow us to be carried off by our sin because it is in our misery and affliction that we will earnestly seek Him. Here is some more truth, if while you have read this, the Lord has convicted you of something in your life, repent now, don't wait! Do not allow your deeds to keep you from returning to the Lord. No matter what we think, feel or say, truth will always be truth!

Hosea 6 - "Your love is like the morning mist like the early dew that disappears... I desire mercy not sacrifice and acknowledgment rather than burnt offerings." - God. Israel was steeped in idolatry but they hadn't flat out denied God. They still went through the motions of showing up and offering sacrifices like they were supposed to. But then they would rush off to something else. Ugh. Think about this in your own life, do you have someone in your life that is just going through the motions? Just checking you off their list and then rushing off to something else? If you love that person, look forward to spending time with them and sharing your world with them, then this can cut like a knife and leave you feeling brokenhearted. Are we doing this to God?
"We're you church on Sunday?"
"Yes."
"Oh great! What was the message about?"
"Oh I don't know I wasn't really listening. But hey! I was there!"
God doesn't want to be a box we check off. He didn't give us his Word so that we can simply decorate our coffee tables with it. He gave it to us because He wants us to read it. To study it. To know him. To love him. "what does the Lord your God ask of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul..." Dt 10:12

Hosea 7 - Hosea illustrates Israel's current situation in three ways. First they are like an oven burning with their own lusts and passions. Second, they are like a silly dove easily deceived and senseless and third like a faulty arrow. God has trained them and strengthen them but they have become a useless and dangerous weapon always missing the mark. Yet, unbelievably, they would still gather together looking for grain and wine, wailing on their beds for their problems to be fixed; but never crying out from their hearts in repentance. They wanted all the perks of God while feeding their passions with sin. Things haven't changed, we treat God as if He has become optional. Like we get to decide if He is real. We get to decide what we want to call him. We get to make up our own rules and when the chips are down we can ask the universe, or some other false god or maybe just ask for a good dose of positivity to come our way and fix it. If things get really bad we might even wail from our beds "God please help me!" Our sin is deceiving us into thinking that it is having no effect on us and convincing us that we have not turned our backs on God and that we are free to call on Him for help without crying out from our hearts in repentance first. Here's the bottom line. I am CIja. I am a 49-year-old woman who loves winter and hates spiders. I have three children and currently live in Colorado. If you call me Brenda, Sue or Bob, I will not answer you. If you try to talk me into holding the tarantula at the butterfly Pavilion to change my stance on spiders, I will not. If you look for me in Africa or even Nebraska you will not find me. There is only one of me. I am who I am. Take it or leave it. My dear friends, the same is true for God. There is only one God, whether He suits us or not and He is the Great I Am. You can not will Him out of existence, or mold Him into something that you want Him to be. He is, period. But here's the mind blowing part!!!! He longs to redeem us, to heal us whenever… We acknowledge Him.

Hosea 8 - what a mess Israel has made of herself. She was delivered from her bondage in Egypt and promised a land flowing with milk and honey; but from the very beginning she thought she knew better than God. God said to clear the promised land of all the other nations, so that he could use the nation of Israel to be an example of what it would look like if a nation served and followed God. Why? So that everyone would want to follow God. But they only did it halfway deciding that treaties were the better way. God set up judges to rule, Israel wanted a king like the other nations and so on. Now look at them, divided, half trusting in idols the other trusting in their fortified cities. They had been swallowed up by the other nations, no longer a light on the hill just a worthless thing. A vessel in which there is no pleasure. God, of course, is the potter. He meticulously and lovingly crafted Israel into a magnificent vessel to be filled up and used for him. But without his covering they had become contaminated and useless. As Christians, we to have been sanctified and prepared to be useful for every good work. The lost of this world should be able to look at you and say "I want what they have." We should be different. We should look different than the world. When those thirsty for living water come looking for it, they should find our vessels full and useful. So many are lost and hurting and need Jesus. I beg of you, let's not be like Israel a vessel in which there is no pleasure. The Lord has rescued us, in grateful response let us be in the Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us and use us according to his great purpose. 

Hosea 9 - God's judgment on Israel for their great sin is imminent. They have ignored Him and His warnings. They have refused to repent. But in chapter 9 in the middle of all the bad that is about to happen we see the Lord reflect on the past and how He looked at Israel "They were like grapes in the wilderness." An unexpected blessing! Under the old covenant God would give Israel exactly what He promised in return for their sin. How fortunate are we that we live under the new covenant of Jesus Christ... "for I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more." So today, I have a challenge for us. This week Let's make a conscience effort to be an unexpected blessing in the lives of those that God puts in our paths. Let's be grapes in the wilderness!!

Hoesa 10 - As I read Hosea chapter 10 I just pictured God giving this beautiful piece of land to one of his children. There's a beautiful house with everything that they need. The pantry and the store houses have been filled, the fields have been planted to sustain him. but in the abundance of blessings the child just sits inside watching TV, eventually the cupboards and store houses are empty. So he looks to the fields, they are overgrown with weeds and the ground is hard and cracked from no water. The house is in disrepair. God has blessed him with everything he needed and he squandered it on himself while leaving what he couldn't use himself to rot and ruin from no use and neglect. As Christians we have been blessed with so much, our rescue from sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the precious word of God. But we mustn't squander and neglect our blessings, now is the time to break up the unplowed ground by seeking the Lord in daily and personal Bible study. We are to sow a field of righteousness and to share the fruit of unfailing love that we will reap with those around us. Yes, breaking up the ground through heartfelt repentance and confession is hard and sometimes very scary work. But as I encourage myself, I encourage you to do as David did. We must ask the Lord to search our hearts and to show us any unclean, unplowed ground that needs to be broken up. Now is the time! 

Hosea 11 - I don't even know if I will be able to write this, this morning. I am just so overwhelmed by God. My thoughts are swirling around like puffs of cotton blowing across a sun warmed field!! For the past several chapters we have been hearing about Israel's idolatry, sin and their refusal to repent. The way they have only superficially recognized God and then chased their lustful passions but here is where God blows my mind!!! Listen to Him speak "How can I give up on him?" Ummm... It's easy, he's treated you horribly, betrayed you, completely ignored you, so he deserves it!! "All my compassion is stirred..." Wait… What? I thought we were kicking his butt to the curb? Remember what he's done?? That doesn't make any sense!! "For I am God, not man. The Holy One among you." Oh thank God he is nothing like you and me, absolutely nothing! That he would not give up on us, that his compassion would be stirred in the midst of our sin!! He is God!!! Not man! thank you, Jesus!!

Hosea 12 - People struggle with God. Struggle means to contend with, contend means to struggle to surmount and surmount means to overcome. So, people will struggle to overcome God. In Hosea 12, we are given the example of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32. The Scripture says that Jacob prevailed. This does not mean that Jacob beat God but that while wrestling with God, he realized who he was wrestling against. He wept and said he would not let go until God gave him a blessing. Jacob prevailed because he recognized his sin, he recognized God and humbled himself before God. This was truly a victory in his life. So here's the point. Are you wrestling with God today? Perhaps over a particular sin in your life that you don't want to let go. Maybe over his existence. Maybe over the idea of having someone over you. It's OK to wrestle with God, but this is a match you can not win. Don't be a sore loser. Don't stomp off and let pride bring eternal defeat to your life. Humble yourself before your creator, and by the help of God return to your God, observe his overwhelming mercy and justice, and wait on him always. 

Hosea 13 - wouldn't it be a great end to Hosea if Israel would heed all the warnings and repent!?Return to God and not have to be chastened and judged for their sin!!! Wait!! Wouldn't that be a great ending for us!!! And we still have time! I am praying for America, that there would be a great revival in our land. We have been so blessed and have lived in such prosperity but I see similarities in our story to the story of Israel. They too were blessed and prosperous but instead of their prosperity leading to thankfulness and gratefulness to God, it lead to pride and self sufficiency and they sinned more and more. God would come, after much warning, as a lion, a leopard and a bear to chastened Israel for their sin, it would be intense and painful but... "I Will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death..." It is always about God's amazing grace! So here's the tip of the day - if you are walking with the Lord and he is blessing you with comfort and prosperity, you must fight against your human nature and not allow pride and self sufficiency to creep in. If you are ignoring the truth of Scripture and living a life that "feels right and good" to you, then heed the warnings and repent. Shepherd or lion, Savior or leopard, King or bear, God is always good and ALL He does is to bring us into a loving and intimate relationship with Him. He is the Lord, God. No really, period.

Hosea 14 - I have to admit I am a little sad to be leaving Hosea, I learned so much about the grace of God in the midst of our sin through the study of this book. But we're not done yet!!! In this chapter the Lord shows Israel how to return to the Lord! A step by step guide. Step 1 - take words with you and return to the Lord. God doesn't just want us to feel sorry or sit before him in silence He wants us to use our words. step 2- humbly acknowledge our sin, step -3 ask Him to receive us, step 4 - worship him, and step 5 recognize the God alone can save us. And what will God do is response? Heal our backsliding! Love us freely!! Cause us to grow! Strengthen us, make us beautiful, restore our value and delight in us!! Do you want to be wise? Then understand these things... The ways of the Lord are RIGHT!!